GSI2000 - Bare metal rebuild!

[retropower]

So following on from above, we finished that corner repair



Did much the same the other side

[retropower]

obviously the fuel filler was rotten...

[retropower]

rear seat area above the chassis leg was shot both sides:

[retropower]

cut out the rot



made these bits:





pleasing...

[C20letlad]

That metal work is out standing it's great to see a gay being restored as there are so few left theses day top job I will be keeping a eye on this thread

[retropower]

back of the floors rotten - you might have spotted that in earlier pics!



chop chop



made these bits



an stuck 'em in with some weldey stuff

[retropower]

other side was worse - needed a bit of the side doing as well

[retropower]

what's that you say?... More rust?... You betcha!













Sorted

[retropower]

The other side was worse - i won't bore you with all the pics but we had to so a lot of the side of the floor:





and this hole had to be replaced in 2 sections:

[retropower]

peeled off some old (shit!) repairs in the front inner wing area:



Cut the area out... nice evidence inside here of why it's worth waxoyling hollow sections... no rust!

[retropower]

took these off.....



.... found more rust:

[retropower]

cut that out and found even more



cut that out too

[retropower]

a bit more cutting



and we start making!

[retropower]

And yes, it was the same the other side

[Robsey]

Interesting to see how a fully equipped restorer would go about this.

This level of rebuild would be financially well outside the means of the "average" enthusiast.
And definitely for someone restoring as a future investment... when there are fewer and fewer GSi type vehicles about, and so finding a solid car is nigh on impossible.
Making such a car very "valuable".

I cannot see such work being done on a run of the mill hatchback or more standard specification Cavalier.

Although I have as much regard / affection for my own LSi hatch myself.

Sadly - I can envisage that the completed shell will only be about 60% original metal.
The other 40% being repair panels and fabricated sections.

[Lowrider Dave]

Superb metal work, very impressed!

[btcctroy]

Panels this crisp can only be made with special tools and equipment.
Still very good panels can be made by hand but not so crisp.. How comes we only see finished smoothed panels, be nice to see the techinal bits that are made up from multiple peices.
Like to see the welding too.

[Envoy CDX]

Looking really really cool

[retropower]

Interesting to see how a fully equipped restorer would go about this.

This level of rebuild would be financially well outside the means of the "average" enthusiast.
And definitely for someone restoring as a future investment... when there are fewer and fewer GSi type vehicles about, and so finding a solid car is nigh on impossible.
Making such a car very "valuable".

I cannot see such work being done on a run of the mill hatchback or more standard specification Cavalier.

Although I have as much regard / affection for my own LSi hatch myself.

Sadly - I can envisage that the completed shell will only be about 60% original metal.
The other 40% being repair panels and fabricated sections.

The cost/value question is one that comes up a lot, but actually 90% of our "full build" projects are not investments at all. They are commissioned by people who's passion for old and interesting cars means that "off the shelf" new cars are a bit boring - they are happy to spend "new car" money but want something created in their own mind rather than just selecting from a brochure (this is a relatively standard rebuild, but there will be a lot of mechanical upgrades as you'll see as the project progresses). Our full builds are effectively completely new cars and we warrant our work accordingly. Consequently the value compared with a standard Cavalier (or whatever car it is we are rebuilding) is fairly irrelevant. For this reason we also work with a specialist insurer to make sure the completed cars are insured to a value that means they could be rebuilt again, should the worst happen.

So yes the car will have cost a lot more than the value of a typical Cavalier, but if you never plan to sell the car, the only question of relevance is whether the end result is up to your expectations given the money spent

[retropower]

Panels this crisp can only be made with special tools and equipment.
Still very good panels can be made by hand but not so crisp.. How comes we only see finished smoothed panels, be nice to see the techinal bits that are made up from multiple peices.
Like to see the welding too.

Sorry Troy it's really just a case of not spending too much of the day taking photos lol

The primer on the repair sections is just weld-through etch to protect them from surface rust until we get to the paint stage. There is no filler, the welds have just been dressed back flush.

Some of the parts are made with "specialist" equipment, but you'd be suprised how many are just good old fashioned hammer, shot bag and shrinker/stretcher - all easily within reach of a DIY-er (which is what we started as!)

Some of the ribbed sections (like those on the back two sections of the floorpan for instance) are formed on our Pullmax. This is basically a very deep-throated reciprocating hammer but with tool holding "chucks" top and bottom. We then just hand grind the male and female profiles of the rib or bead we want to form into pieces of steel bar to create the tools. Feeding a sheet through the jaws then form a rib of whatever length you want and you can "steer" the sheet to form curved ribs - like the one on the front floorpan section. The circular embossed sections, like the fuel filler or around the floor drains are simply pressed using suitably sized old bearing housings in a fly press!

[retropower]

Panels this crisp can only be made with special tools and equipment.
Still very good panels can be made by hand but not so crisp.. How comes we only see finished smoothed panels, be nice to see the techinal bits that are made up from multiple peices.
Like to see the welding too.

Sorry Troy it's really just a case of not spending too much of the day taking photos lol

The primer on the repair sections is just weld-through etch to protect them from surface rust until we get to the paint stage. There is no filler, the welds have just been dressed back flush.

Some of the parts are made with "specialist" equipment, but you'd be suprised how many are just good old fashioned hammer, shot bag and shrinker/stretcher - all easily within reach of a DIY-er (which is what we started as!)

Some of the ribbed sections (like those on the back two sections of the floorpan for instance) are formed on our Pullmax. This is basically a very deep-throated reciprocating hammer but with tool holding "chucks" top and bottom. We then just hand grind the male and female profiles of the rib or bead we want to form into pieces of steel bar to create the tools. Feeding a sheet through the jaws then form a rib of whatever length you want and you can "steer" the sheet to form curved ribs - like the one on the front floorpan section. The circular embossed sections, like the fuel filler or around the floor drains are simply pressed using suitably sized old bearing housings in a fly press!

I might also add that we love showing people round our workshop! We have around 30 cars in progress at any one time, so anyone is welcome to come and have "the tour" and scutinise our work as closely as you want

[retropower]

The usual rot under the rear lights and the bottom of the rear panel is rough as well





back panel removed



remade the back of the chassis legs



remade the back of the wheel well



remade the bits under the rear lights



cleaned and primed everything



then on with new rear panel, all spot welded as per original

[retropower]

No great surprise to find lots of rot in the spare wheel well:







made these bits:









All done

[retropower]

front end had some luuuurverly old repairs:



However this was all relatively easy as the panels are available so we just replaced it all:

[retropower]

front edge of the roof had various rust holes so we cut out a strip along the entire width



made a compete new piece



then TIG welded it in edge-to-edge, spot welded the flange and then lead filled and body filed any distortion that was left along the edge of the roof. Sorry this is a terrible pic!